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Born to a family of six girls and two boys from Bayelsa State in the oil-rich Niger-Delta area of Nigeria, the Mac Sisters, as they’ve now been widely known, have held musical competitions on a lockdown for over a decade.
With their extraordinary talent, the sisters who grew up in Ajegunle, the Lagos slum community in Ajeromi local government area, that has produced some of Nigeria’s biggest names in music, movie and sports, have been able to convince the world that talent truly runs in the family, and it is more than just an asset.
They picked their love for music from their parents. “My dad is the one who actually sings, and he used to play the guitar back in the days. My mom actually likes music too,” Naomi said in an interview with Channels TV.
Since 2011 when the third of the Mac Sisters – Naomi, first appeared on the Nigerian Idol stage and later finished as the first runner-up of that year’s show, four Mac Sisters – Grace, Naomi, Faith and now Precious, have gone on to build a formidable reputation of dazzling audiences and impressing critics at talent shows. They’ve held a country spellbound with their musical dexterity.
In 2011, Naomi became the first runner-up at Nigerian Idol. In 2012, it was Grace Mac on Project Fame West Africa, Faith followed in 2021 and made it to top 11 at Nigerian Idol. In 2023, Precious Mac took the family’s name to another level and also made a name for herself with her impressive outing at the Nigerian Idol Season 8 where she finished as the first runner-up on Sunday, July 16, 2023.
How can one family have so many talents? Many have asked, but we do not even know if the two other Mac Sisters are preparing to take the Nigerian Idol stage by storm next year, and maybe eventually win it for the family.
Now that Nigerian Idol Season 8 is over with all the buzz and the critical acclaim the Mac Sisters received from the public, which suggest that they’ve conquered Nigerian musical competitions, it is time to take the name to the next level.
From Sister Sledge to the Rhythm Sisters, the Andrews Sisters, the Pointers Sisters, and the Shaggs, among many others, the world has seen the rise of prominent musical groups made up of female siblings, but the Nigerian music space has seen more famous brothers in mainstream music. Since the era of the Lijadu Sisters (Kehinde and Taiwo Lijadu) from the mid-60s to the 80s, a few other sisters have tried but failed to hit mainstream success or maintain their and make a significant impact like the brothers’ groups.
The late Osinachi and her twin sister – Amarachi, who were vocalists in a popular acapella group – the Glorious Singers in Enugu state, could not step away from the ensemble before going solo as members of their individual church choirs. Not so much has been heard about the British-Nigerian sisters band – SHiiKANE made up of twin sisters HRH Shay and Princess Annamay and their younger sister, Baby-Kay.
But there’s an opportunity for the Mac Sisters to take that space and become Nigeria’s next mainstream sisters’ music group after building a remarkable online audience. They’ve got the talent which is never in doubt. They’ve got the stuff that made other music groups a success. What is left to tick all the boxes is the right management company. While they can find success individually if they choose to continue with their solo career like some of them have been doing, nothing stops them from bringing back the ‘Star Sisters’ music group which Naomi said was made up of her sisters before she joined the group at age 10.
If they choose to forge a music history together as a singing group, they may just be on their way to becoming Nigeria’s most compelling sisters group in popular music notwithstanding the genre they choose to adopt. They’ve supported each other’s early musical dabbling from the days of practising in the next room or before the bathroom mirror with a raspy or beguiling voice. They’ve been each other’s earliest critics and source of inspiration, as Precious herself revealed that seeing her sisters sing inspired her at the age of eight to start singing in her local church, and as she got older, she got into competitions. Her first competition was the Festival of Talents competition which she won at the young age of 14. Naomi and Faith also revealed how their sisters inspired them to become singers at age seven and eight respectively.
But that is not to say the Mac Sisters’ family ties cannot get a bit strained and shaken with the financial entanglements and ego-stroking that come with showbiz, we saw this at play with the Okoye brothers – Paul and Peter Okoye (P Square) who were separated for almost five years and reunited in 2021.
The Mac Sisters can actually make it work and they should give it a shot. They may just be on their way to becoming Nigeria’s next biggest sisters’ musical group, a record that is still held by the septuagenarian Lijadu Sisters even after the demise of Kehinde in 2019.
The post How The Mac Sisters Have Dominated Musical Competitions Since 2011. And What They Should Do Next appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
